


Mild Max: Maple Road

by Vertex



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff and Crack, Humor, I don't know what I'm doing, I just wanted a fic with sid tazer and kaner together, M/M, Road Trips, aftermath of the 2010 winter olympics, so i wrote one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 03:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7205837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vertex/pseuds/Vertex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Besides," Kaner continues. "I already slept with Kesler."</p><p>Jonny and Sid both spit out their coffee. "What?!" Jonny practically yells for the world to hear, while Sid sputters, "Wait, isn't he married?"</p><p>(A fic in which Jonny, Sidney, and Kaner get stuck together in the worst, unplanned road-trip of their existence.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mild Max: Maple Road

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by this [post](http://kanershuffle.tumblr.com) on Tumblr (I suggest you take a look before reading this fic) and the awesomeness that is the title is taken from there. I saw the post and could totally envision Jonny or Sidney driving that. One thing led to another, and then here I was writing at 4 a.m., not having slept properly for over four days. Enjoy! 
> 
> I have to give special credit to my sister for putting up with me and betaing this, thanks.

Sid is standing alone on the dusty side-way of some highway. He's too hung over to try to recognize which one. He adjusts his team Canada cap over his head and squints behind his shades as a vehicle comes to a stop in front of him.

It's a beat up old van with small American flags attached to the side-view mirrors. Sid squints harder trying to see past the tinted windows. Jon told him that he has to look out for something very blaring when he called him about twenty-minutes ago. So Sid has stood out in the cold, early March, more than necessary.

Why can't Toews just fucking tell him? Sid has a massive headache. He doesn't have time for this, or the attitude.

The window rolls down and Sid recoils back when he sees that it's a corpulent woman with a nasty expression and definitely not Jonny. There's a rough-looking man in the passenger seat who looks him up and down like he's sizing him up. Sid grimaces.

"Wan' a ride?" The woman asks in a gruff voice, and he hastily shakes his head.

"No, thank you," he replies, politely. He pulls his cap lower, hoping it helps hide his identity. They must have seen the game against the States, and if so they recognise him, Sid is afraid that he's not going to end up riding willingly in the back of the van. Or so he fears.

The woman eyes him for a second and he stills. "You sure?" She asks, and he nods in response.

He finally remembers to breathe after she grunts in response and takes off.

Sid's left standing by himself again. And after a few minutes he's contemplating calling Jonny again but decides against it because he suspects that Jonny's phone's battery is dead by now. The other man had warned him about it when he last called.

Suddenly Sid hears the beeping of a horn. He shakes his head incredulously. He can spot the thing from a mile away in all its Canadian glory.

The Chevy Silverado pick-up truck, decorated with Canadian flags of various sizes, slows down and comes to a halt in front of him, and Jonny's the driver. He blows the horn one more time and Sid glares at him.

"Can you not!" He shouts in protest, before grimacing again as his head throbs. He comes around to sit in the adjacent seat. Jonny hands him a cool bottle of water after he shuts the door.

"Where'd you get this thing?" Sid asks, unscrewing the cap and then taking a sip. He presses its cool body to his forehead hoping to get some sort of relief.

"I don't know, man," Jonny replies. "When I came out, this guy just handed me the keys and pushed me toward it. He insisted that it was mine. It's not like I had any other option so I just went with it. I mean, I have no cash, only my passport on me - I think I got robbed last night."

"And I don't have my medal," he continues. "The last I remember, it was around my neck."

Sid palms his pocket where his medal still remains. "I have mine. Maybe the others have it," he offers in consolation.

"Maybe," Jonny says, resting his forehead on the steering wheel.

"I messed up," he confesses after a while.

Sid pats him on the back in a comforting way. "We all did, bud."

 

Sid lets out a breathy sigh as they pause at a stop sign. He looks out the window and makes a face when he sees a kid staring back at him with wide-eyes from the car next to them.

He nudges Jonny, and Jonny being startled from his thoughts jumps a little in his seat. "Hmph?" He responds in a dumb fashion.

Sid gives a slight nod toward the kid. They both look out the window and wave slighty. The kid's eyes widen further - if that's possible - and he opens his mouth like he's going to cry. They both quickly turn their heads to the road in front.

"So, what now?" Sid speaks, breaking the silence.

"Now we just focus on finding the others," Jonny answers, driving forward.

"Owwhh-nnn," a whiny voice comes from behind them. "Will you shut the fuck up."

Jonny puts a foot on the brake and the truck comes to a stop with an awkward jerk. There's a thunk and thud from the back and they both look out the small window that gives them a view of the back-end.

"Kane?" Sid manages to say as he stares at the passed out American. He turns to look at Jonny with an eyebrow raised. "Did you know he was there?"  
Jonny shakes his head. "No. What the fuck!"

"And, look, he has your medal," Sid points out helpfully.

 

They both are leaning against the truck after filling up the tank while Kaner, finally conscious, shops for supplies at the gas station store. He's the only one with cash on him.

"I think Kaner and I might have slept together last night," Jonny blurts out of the blue. His gaze remains steady on the blond man who's observing the shelf stacked with snacks in front of him, unsuspecting of their conversation. Kaner has Sid's shades on because Sid politely offered. The dude looked like he needed them more with his blood-shot eyes.

"Like sleep-sleep or...?" Sid raises his eyebrow in question. He doesn't want to assume.

"Fucked, obviously," Jonny exclaims. "Why would I tell you otherwise?"

"I don't know..." Sid shrugs. "What makes you think so?"

Jonny goes redder as he speaks. "I - uh - have this vague memory - well, I'm not sure if it really is a memory - of telling him that I wanted to fuck him with my medal around his neck, and here we are now: he's limping and has my medal."

"Which you should take back before you lose it again," Sid suggests wisely. "There could be many explanations for this."

"Like?"

"Like he could be limping because his leg fell asleep. I mean, he was passed-out back there for a pretty long time."

"And what about the medal?"

"Why do I have to think of everything?" Sid says. "Even better: why don't you ask him yourself? Look, here he comes, now's your chance." He nudges Jonny who lets out a noise as Kaner staggers over to them.

They both remain silent as Kaner comes to a stop in front of them.

"What?!" He snaps. "I brought breakfast." He shoves the bag toward Jonny who's forced to hold it as Kaner let's go and gets in the back-seat of the truck.

Jonny frowns and looks into the bag. It's full of junk-food which makes his frown deepen. "We are not eating this," he objects, getting in the truck himself, followed by Sid.

"I'm sure there's a diner somewhere around here, we can eat from there and then decide what we're going to do next."

 

They end up finding a diner where they are serving pancakes a few miles north.

"Sweet," Kaner says, before jumping out of the truck and making his way inside.

Jonny rolls his eyes and goes after him, yelling, "Christ, Kaner, wait for us!" Sid follows behind as usual.

They get a booth next to the window. It's a quiet day with only two other people in the diner, sitting on stools at the counter.

They decide to just order some pancakes and coffee. Jonny calls the waitress over. She's really pretty and Jonny makes a face as Kaner checks her out. Idiot, he thinks. Jealousy rolls through him and he can't understand why Kaner feels the need to flirt with random strangers especially now considering they are together. Well, sort of.

"What else can I get you gentlemen?" She asks, after scribbling down their order.

Kaner smirks and Jonny just knows he's going to say 'your number' so he quickly speaks first: "Nothing else, thank you."

After she leaves, Jonny picks up one of the 'specials' menu and hits Kaner on the back of his head.

"Whaaat?" Kaner whines, soothing the spot where Jonny hit him. They agreed that it's okay for Kaner to flirt with others as long as he does it under Jonny's supervision. But that doesn't mean that Jonny's going to accept it happily.

Jonny just shakes his head at him.

"I'm surprised though, that nobody has recognized us yet," Kaner states randomly after a few minutes of silence.

"Great, now you've jinxed us!" Sid says. "We are bound to get recognised now."

"What do you mean, now?" Kaner argues. "We are the most recognisable faces in the NHL, together we might as well be advertising our presence."

"Shut up, guys," Jonny interrupts. "We don't have time for this. We need to figure out how we ended up here."

"We drove," Kaner pipes in cleverly.

Jonny glares as both Sid and Kaner high-five each other while laughing.

"You know what I meant - very mature," Jonny adds. "Sidney, I expected more from you."

"Sidney, I expected more from you," Kaner parrots in a mock high-pitch tone. "What are you, his dad?" They both start laughing even harder at Jonny's bitch-face.

"Assholes," Jonny mumbles as the waitress comes back with their order and places the tray on the table.

"So how did you end up with Jonny?" Sid asks Kaner after they are alone again. "And you had his medal."

"Oh that, I remember we checked into a hotel totally hammered, Tazer here was so out of it, I helped him to our room and to the bed. He placed the medal around my neck and mumbled something incoherent and then passed out on me."

"So you're saying we didn't..." Jonny trails off, the tips of his ears turning red.

"We didn't what?" Kaner asks, curious.

"Sleeptogether," Jonny blurts out quickly in one go. They haven't yet reached that far into their relationship and Jonny rather not have their first time a drunken mishap which they can't even remember.

Kaner makes a disgusted face. "Aw hell no, who gave you that idea? Like I'd sleep with your ugly mug," he exclaims.

"Ass," Jonny says before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Besides," Kaner continues. "I already slept with Kesler."

Jonny and Sid both spit out their coffee. "What?!" Jonny practically yells for the world to hear, while Sid sputters, "Wait, isn't he married?"

Kaner winces. "Relax," he says to prevent Jonny from breaking out into one of his lectures. "I was just kidding. I don't put out that easy. You have to buy me dinner first - like I'm buying you breakfast now." He grins into his cup.

Sid glances at Jonny who looks like he's about to burst into an angry rant. But seeing Kaner smile, Jonny relaxes and his expression softens. "You little shit," he exclaims and pushes Kaner who just laughs.

"So, wait, then how did you end up there in the back?" Jonny questions.

"Like I told you before," Kaner says. "I don't remember. I messed up my leg during the game and it was hurting again so I took some painkillers. I must have mixed them with alcohol or something because the next thing I knew, I'm knocked out cold."

Jonny frowns and Kaner speaks, "I know that look. You don't have to tell me; I should have been more careful."

 

"Maybe we should call the others," Jonny suggests. "Like Duncs and Seabs... I would but, unfortunately, my phone's dead."

"Don't look at me," Kaner says. "I don't have a phone."

They both turn to look at Sid. He puts his hands up. "Mine's new, I don't have the guys' numbers."

"Yeah, you had a flip phone before, didn't you?" Kaner says in snide, and Sid glares at him.

"Okay, okay," Jonny interjects. "You must have Lemeiux's number, right? I don't know, call him."

Sid pulls out his phone and groans. "Three-percent battery... See, if I had a flip phone we wouldn't be having this problem."

Kaner snorts again. "That's because you don't know how to use a smart-phone." He grabs the iPhone from Sid's hands.

"See, you've got all these apps running." He shoves the phone toward the older man's face to show him.

Sid grabs his phone back and looks ready to rip Kaner a new one so Jonny has to intervene again.

"You guys bicker so much... That means he likes you, Sid - I should know," Jonny says with a cheeky smile, clearly pleased with himself.

"Oh shut up, Jonny," Kaner grumbles but does not deny. "We should head out now. I'll clear the bill."

"Yeah," Jonny agrees. "You guys can go outside, I'll ask someone for directions."

"I'll drive," Sid offers.

"You do that," Kaner says. "I'm sick of Tazer's driving. Like dude how did they let you have a driver's license. You suck."

Now it was Jonny's turn to tell Kaner to shut up.

Kaner takes the passenger seat beside Sid and continues to fiddle with the audio system while they wait for Jonny. He gets pissed off when he realizes that all he's going to get are country songs on the radio.

Sid chuckles and Kaner flips him off before he's back to his fiddling, mumbling, "fucking Canada and this fucking Canadian-piece-of-junk."

Sid looks over Kaner's head and sees Jonny make his way over to the truck. He opens the back door and gets in.

"Good news," Jonny announces. "We are almost a day's drive from Sewickley. We can drop you off there, Sid, and then Pat and I can make our way to an airport to get back to Chicago. That's what we set out to do before this entire mess."

"Then what are we waiting for," Kaner says.

 

After an hour into drive they start realizing that they are attracting a lot of attention from by-passing vehicles as traffic increases further down the road.

"Hey, is it just me or do people keep looking over in our direction?" Kaner finally asks. "Do they know or what?"

After a few seconds of sharing confused looks they all let out an 'oooooohh' when they suddenly remember at once.

"I can't believe we forgot what the outside of this thing looks like," Jonny says.

"Driving a truck in America with Canadian flags all over is not a good idea," Sid points out as matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, we should get rid of the flags before we get pulled over by the cops," Kaner suggests.

"Let me pull over," Sid says. "I can't believe we didn't think of doing this before."  
After pulling over to the side, they get out and quickly begin removing all the flags and ditch them there much to the pain of Jonny and Sid.

"It's for the best," Kaner consoles as the both of them look like they just betrayed their country.

 

Kaner's stomach begins to grumble by late-afternoon and he's starting to feel queasy from the long drive. Without any good music, the ride is truly insufferable. He can't believe he is even stuck in this situation. That _they are stuck in this situation._

His mom is going to kill him. He hasn't talked to her or the rest of his family since USA lost to Canada in Vancouver. He should call her as soon as opportunity gives. At least he's not gotten in trouble or anything.

His memory of the events before their little road trip is jumbled up and there are a lot of missing pieces.

He remembers returning to the locker room in bitter disappointment. Yeah, silver's great and all, but it is a constant reminder that they had been so close, so Goddamn close.

He and Jonny were supposed to meet later and return to Chicago together. And they did. Sid was there too for some reason none of them can remember. Along the way they drank a lot - he to wash away the pain and disappointment, and Jonny to celebrate.

It is ridiculous and crazy to think where they ended up. It's all been such a blur. And now they are stuck in the worst, unplanned road-trip ever.

"Hey, can we stop to eat?" Kaner asks. He just really wants to get out of this stupid truck.

"Yeah," Jonny agrees. "We been on the road for hours and I really need to stretch my legs."

Sid thinks for a moment before suggesting, "I think Burger King's just near...we can stop there for a while."

Jonny makes a face and Kaner is sure he's thinking about all the grease and calories.

"C'mon, Tazer," Kaner says. "I'm going to go crazy if we stay in this thing any longer. We have to eat and I'm the one paying so don't get all uptight on me now or I swear to God I'm going to punch you."

"I didn't say anything!" Jonny protests.

"You didn't need to," Kaner replies. "Your face said it all."

"Whatever," Jonny says. "Let's just go."

 

Before going in Kaner puts on Sid's shades, while Sid adjusts his cap lower over his face and Jonny pulls up his hoodie. How shady, Kaner thinks.

He bats Sid's hands away when the Canadian habitually reaches over to shove his hands in his pockets. "Don't make it look like we're here rob them. We look suspicious enough already."

They walk in and get a table. It's relatively busy but Kaner thinks that they will be able to go unrecognized. He goes and orders for all of them. Standing in line, he tries to avoid looking anyone directly. He feels filthy from their adventure, and tired. He can't wait to get back to Chicago. Back to his condo.

He brings the tray full of food to the table at the corner. He settles it and takes a seat next to Sid across from Jonny.

"I managed to get a charger from one of the workers," Sid says, holding it up to show Kaner who's impressed.

"That was a smart," he says with a nod of approval.

"Wait, give me that thing." Jonny leans over the table and snatches the charger from Sid who protests: "Hey! So rude Jon!"

"Let me charge my phone first, you don't have any contacts," Jonny says, plugging his phone in.

"Fine," Sid grudgingly accepts and makes himself busy with the fries.

"C'mon Jonny, eat first then you can check your alerts all you want," Kaner says, through a mouthful of burger.

Jonny dismisses him with an uninterested 'don't talk with your mouth full' and returns to bringing his phone back to life.

Kaner huffs at the dismissal. "Don't complain to me when your food's cold."

Jonny ignores him and lets out a delighted sound when his phone turns on. He quickly checks his notifications.

"I've got no missed calls and I doubt anybody sent a search party after us so I'm speculating that everybody just assumed that we are fine," Jonny tells them while keeping his gaze on the screen.

"Well that's concerning," Kaner says while Sid adds, "Which we are though."

Jonny scrolls down further, his eyebrows knit in concentration as he skims through the material. "Jeez," he suddenly says causing Kaner and Sid to pause their devouring of fries.

"What?" Kaner asks.

Jonny turns the screen in their direction. Sid and Kaner lean forward and squint to take a look.

It's and article from Deadspin and the caption reads: Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane together in their own version of Mad Max: Fury Road? Or should we say Mild Max: Maple Road?

"Hilarious," Kaner comments in a sardonic tone.

"There's a picture of us on the road," Jonny explains. "When we were about to take down the flags. Looks like it was taken from a passing vehicle."

And indeed it was. It's a conspicuous photo of them standing behind the truck with Jonny scratching his head and Sid observing the flag in his hands while Kaner looks on. They hadn't started anything yet which could be considered as a good thing, Sid contemplates.

Jonny turns the screen back in his own direction and quickly reads through the article and he's relieved to find out that it's mostly about Canada's gold medal win.

"They are more concerned over the three of us together than they are about what we were doing," Jonny says, placing his phone down on the table.

Sid takes a look at it and points out, "hey, there's a picture of us at the diner too."

Kaner and Jonny take a look too. "It feels like someone followed us from the diner."

"That's kind of creepy," Kaner comments.

"What if they're here now," Jonny says, making them all glance up from the phone to their surrounding. They get a few returned glances from a family next to them but the rest are busy in their own business. Nobody looks too suspicious.

"Let's make their job easier," Kaner says. "Give me your phone, Jonny," he demands but doesn't wait for an answer which makes Jonny roll his eyes because _typical, Pat._

"What are you doing, Kaner?" He asks as the younger man holds out the phone in front of him as much the charger-chord allows him.

"Taking a selfie of us," Kaner says in a duh-tone. "I'm going to post it on Twitter."

"No, you are not," Jonny remarks.

"Yeah, not like this, you're right." Kaner takes off the shades and looks around. "My hair's a mess...Give me your hat, Sid."

Sid, _unlike Jonny,_ sighs but without protest takes it off and hands it over to Kaner. His hair is sticking out in all directions which makes the younger man laugh.

"It's better than mine, I can fix it," Kaner says before ditching the phone for Sid's hair.

"No," Sid protests, grabbing a hold of Kaner's wrists to stop his touchy hands. The younger man pushes harder. "Pleasee, Sid," Kaner begs.

"You are making a scene, Patrick," Jonny hisses. But as usual the Kaner ignores him, but Jonny calling him by his name does get his attention for a split second before he's back to harassing Sid.

He manages to release his right hand which immediately snakes its way over to Sid's unruly hair.

Sid makes a face but eventually let's Kaner have his way which he always does, and Jonny can testify that. Yeah, Kaner's a bit of a push over but when he really wants something, he gets it.

Sid tilts his head back a little. "If you lick your hand and touch my hair with it, I swear Kane, I will kill you."

"That's disgusting," Kaner says, offended. "Why would I do that?" He continues with his task at hand. He pats and runs his delicate fingers like a comb through Sid's hair.

"Here, better," Kaner says, observing his handy work with a smile teasing the corner of his lips.

He turns to grab Sid's hat and frowns when he sees the maple leaf on the front. He turns it backwards and puts it on.

He the grabs the phone again. "Let's take this off for a second." He disconnects the charger-cord.

"Try to smile a little, Jonny," Kaner says as he adjusts the positioning of the phone so they all come in the frame. He takes a quick snap and quickly uploads it to his own twitter with the caption: stuck with these two #burgerking. They look half-dead, but whatever.

Suddenly a few notifications goes off near them and a few people including a couple of teenage girls check their phones. One of them squeals, "O-M-G, look what Kane just tweeted."

Sid, Kaner and Jonny's eyes widen and they quickly turn their heads away in panic when the girl looks around in hope that Kane tweeted about the same Burger King where she is.

"Let's get out of here," Sid suggests. Kaner and Jonny nod in agreement. They quickly pick up their things and get up to leave because they are bound to get recognized.

Thankfully the worker, bless her, is standing near the exit so Sid quickly hands her charger back with a thank you and they dash out of there.

"You idiot," Jonny hisses as soon as they are outside in the parking lot.

Kaner shuts his eyes and sticks out his tongue in a grimace. "That was not a good idea. Should have probably waited until we got out of here."

"You think," Jonny replies with sarcasm. "I didn't even get to finish my lunch."

"Well is that my fault?" Kaner argues. "I told you to eat first. How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?"

"Hey, hey," says Sid, trying to mediate. "Relax guys -"

"Tell him to relax," Kaner says. "He's the one being a jackass."

Sid turns to Jonny. "Well...you were kind of harsh."

"Oh my God, you are taking his side now?!" Jonny says in disbelief.

"I'm not taking anyone's side," Sid defends. "You know what? I'm not getting involved in this argument, it's freezing cold and I am heading back to the truck - we need to find a place to stay for the time being," he says walking backwards before turning around.

Kaner gives Jonny a cold look. "I'm coming too," he announces, before catching up to Sid and sticking to his side. Seeing that makes Jonny bristle.

 

To say there is awkward tension is the least. Kaner immediately takes his place in the front next to Sid, leaving the backseat for Jonny. He pretends that Jonny does not exist and only holds conversation with Sid.

This is an awkward ride, Sid thinks. But he has to make it work.

"There's a hotel few kilometers from here," Sid states. "We can stay there for the night and get things in order. That's, of course, up to you Kaner."

"Yeah, yeah," Kaner replies. "I have my credit card. We can do this and we are going to do this. I'm really sick of driving around. I've had enough of this nomadic lifestyle to last me a life time."

Sid's eyes shift to the rear-view mirror and his eyebrow arches in question. "Jonny?"

"'lright with me," he grunts. He leaning back against the seat looking really ticked off with his arms folded.

Sid thinks that Kaner ignoring Jonny and talking to him instead is really having an effect on the other man. And Sid doesn't really want to overstep his bounds so he brushes off Kaner's attempts at conversation. But he sort of regrets it when Kaner gives him a wounded expression and turns around to face the window with a pout.

And now Sid feels like they are both mad at him. He especially regrets it when Jonny snorts at Kaner's sulking. He gives Jonny a hard look through the rear-view mirror. They are adults but instead those two are acting like petulant children.

 

It's almost eight by the time they arrive to their destination and they are all ready to pass out. There are only a few people lounging on the couches in the lobby. They make their way over to the reception.

"There is only one room available," The elderly woman behind the desk informs them. "It comes with twin beds." She looks at them expectantly and eyes that they don't have any luggage.

On another day they would have moved on, but not that day.  
"We'll take it," Kaner says. He's so tired that he can barely keep his eyes open, and he's sure the other two feel the same way.

 

"Damn, woman, looking like we going to start an orgy or something," Kaner comments from the corner of his mouth as they turn around to make their way to their shared room, booked for one night.

Sid snorts in amusement. Well, wearied from their journey, they do look like a bunch of hooligans.

They stop in front of the door and Sid uses the key to open it and enters first. The room is just like they had been promised. A plain room of suitable size with two twin beds situated at opposite ends of the room.

Jonny's the last one to enter and he shuts the door behind him.

"So, how do we do this?" Sid asks. "I rather not anyone sleep on the floor, so two of us has to share."

Kaner and Jonny stand there awkwardly, stubbornly refusing to look at one another. When none of them speaks up, Sid sighs and suggests, "I'll take the left bed. One of you can share with me."

Kaner immediately pipes, "I'll share with you, if that's alright with you?" Which is not surprising since he has latched on to Sid for the time being. The older man does not mind, in fact he kind of likes the attention but he does not want to get in between.

Jonny looks at Kaner with hurt and shock which the younger man doesn't seem to notice.

"Besides your fat asses won't fit together; I'm smaller," the blond adds, and Sid's pretty sure that that's the first time Kaner admitted that happily, and hey! his ass isn't that fat.  
Sid wants to say that you can fit with Jonny too, but he doesn't. Instead, he nods, "It's fine by me."

He glances at Jonny who gives him a pissed off look before turning around in a 'whatever' gesture.

"Let's get some sleep, we'll take care of things in the morning," Sid says.

Kaner hums in agreement before throwing himself on the bed. He's got his face pressed into the pillow, limbs spread out. Sid walks over and tries to push him aside. "Give me some space."

"I will pull you by your hair," Sid threatens when Kaner doesn't move.

"Kinky," Kaner replies, smiling into the pillow. He's got a mischievous glint in his eyes. Sid rolls his eyes but has to stifle a laugh at the younger man's reply.  
They end up positioned with him next to the wall because Kaner wanted to make sure he has an easy escape route if he needed to make any midnight bathroom-trips.

 

Sid hears the rustling of the sheets and feels Kaner move during the night. He's too tired to ask what the younger man is trying to do. He immediately falls back to sleep for some time and then wakes up again when he hears murmuring. He moves his hand around and the bed feels empty; Kaner's not there. Sid opens his eyes groggily and sees that it's still night-time.

He hears hushed talk again which diverts his attention to the other end of the room where he expects Jonny to be asleep. Instead he finds the other man awake with Kaner beside him.

They are both sitting on the bed with Kaner leaning against the head-board, facing Jonny who's got his right hand gently cupping the younger man's face, his thumb stroking his cheek.

They're talking about something in hushed tones and Sid tries to make out the words but they're too quiet so the effort's futile.

Jonny says something to Kaner - he looks like he's assuring him about something and then he unexpectedly leans in and kisses the younger man softly. Kaner lets out a soft moan and leans into it.

And that's when Sid turns his head to face the wall. He feels uncomfortable eavesdropping in what is an intimate moment.

He smiles thinking that at least they both finally got their shit together and are not fighting anymore. His eyes feel heavy with sleep and soon he's dozing off.

 

Sid wakes up in the morning to the sunlight streaming through the window illuminating the room.

He hears the shower turn off from the bathroom and lifts his head to look. The first thing he sees is Kaner asleep on Jonny's bed. The door near the foot of the bed opens and Jonny walks out rubbing his wet hair with a towel. Steam rolls into the room in waves. A hot shower, it feels like a long time since Sid had one of those.

Jonny notices him awake and offers a smile. "Morning."

Sid smiles back and can't help but glance shortly at Kaner's sleeping form. Jonny follows his gaze before returning it back to him. He looks at Sid sharply as if daring him to say something.

Sid gives him a small smile before getting up and stretching. "I'm going to take a shower," he declares and makes his way to the bathroom.

Jonny says alright before walking over around to the head of the bed where Kaner's asleep. Jonny runs his hand through Kaner's curls and smiles fondly. "Wake up, sleepy-head," he says and shakes the younger man's head a little.

The last thing Sid sees before closing the door is Kaner groaning and turning his head to the other side after pushing Jonny's hand away.

Unfortunately for them, they don't have spare clothes to change into. Sid takes his clothes off and places them on the marble counter neatly to wear again. He turns the shower on and hot water immediately pours out. He steps in and almost groans at how good the hot water feels against his skin, relaxing his tense muscles.

He takes his time and by the time he comes out Kaner's awake and on the landline the hotel provides.

He smiles brightly when he sees Sid which makes Sid immediately grin back. Sid envies his chipper attitude which the older man can't understand how anyone can have in the morning, especially after what they went through yesterday.

"We're ordering breakfast. What do you want?" Kaner asks from where he's against the desk next to the entrance to their room.

Sid could really do with a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich now but the hotel probably doesn't serve those so he goes with scrambled eggs and toast instead.

Kaner finishes giving the order before he gets up and heads over to the bathroom for his turn. He pats Sid's shoulder on his way in greeting.

The door shuts lightly behind him and Sid makes his way over to his bed and sits down. Jonny's on the other bed flipping through a magazine.

Sid contemplates but decides to ask. "So, how long have you two been together?"

Jonny pauses in surprise like he wasn't expecting Sid to just come out and ask. He regains his composure before turning his head to look at Sid.

"On and off for a month," he admits honestly. He looks a bit sheepish.

"I've wanted to -" he pauses shortly before continuing. "But Pat's not ready."

Sid nods in understanding. Their behavior makes a lot of sense now.

Jonny runs his hand through his hair and huffs out a small laugh at the memory. "I-uh pulled some strings and found out that the truck is a rental. I called the company and I found out that Kaner drunk-dialed and rented the thing and promised to pay extra if it came embellished with Canadian flags. Drunk-him wanted to surprise me. Probably doesn't even remember it."

Sid chuckles because wow, that's hilarious.

Jonny has this look of endearment on his face - which is usually associated with Kaner, like right now - but then he snaps back to reality. "Our return flight to Chicago has been arranged," he announces with a poker-face, changing the topic. "We leave in a few hours."

"Oh," Sid replies. He has a sinking feeling in his stomach and he has to admit that he's not ready to see them go back yet.

"I talked to some of the guys too," Jonny informs. "The rest of the guys are fine."

"Call your family if you want," he says. "Pat already called his."

Sid shakes his head. "Nah, it's okay. I'm going to see them in a few hours anyway."

 

When breakfast arrives only Kaner and Sid are in the room. They eat in silence and Sid keeps dreading as the time passes by; in a while, they will be gone and he will be alone.

"You're coming, right?" Kaner asks him, finally breaking the silence. "To the airport with us, I mean." He's smiling but he looks a little apprehensive too like he's afraid that Sid's going to say no.

"How can I not." Sid smiles but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. He's dreading that final hour too much.

Jonny joins them later after finishing his call with Duncs who confirms again that the rest of the guys are fine. Hung over from their celebration, but fine. It's just them who had been in plight.

The time for their departure eventually arrives. They check out and head over to the truck which brings back a sense of familiarity.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm going to miss this piece-of-junk," Kaner says. Jonny and Sid agree. It's been decided that Sid will later return it to the rental company. He would keep it for sentimental reasons though if he could.

"Oh, before I forget," Sid says. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out Eminem's Recovery album CD. "For the road."

Kaner - though he will never ever admit - squeals and grabs it from Sid. "My favourite album!" Jonny shakes his head at Sid and gives him a look which says what have you done.

"Where'd you get it from?" Kaner asks eagerly.

Sid saw one of the bellhops with it and decided to trade his Ray-Bans for the CD. He has to admit that he didn't know that it's Kaner's favorite album. He got it thinking that the younger man would appreciate something that is not country music which he had been complaining about yesterday. "Jonny got it," Sid lies easily.

Jonny sends him a confused look. "I-uh," he stumbles over his words when Kaner turns his attention to him.

Thankfully, Kaner doesn't ask for the details, instead he gives Jonny a grateful look and thanks him. Sid knows the younger man wants to do more than that but is holding back because of him.

Jonny locks gazes with Sid and sends him his own silent thank you. Sid gives him a slight nod in return.

"Let's get going," he says, breaking the moment. "We don't want to be late and have you guys miss your flight. Let's not have another adventure, shall we."

They ride in companionable silence with Eminem's rapping the only sound filling the truck. Kaner occasionally breaks the silence to express his expectations and excitement for the playoffs.

They make it to the airport on time, ninety-minutes before Jonny and Kaner have to board the plane. As they make their way through they don't go unnoticed and attract a few attention.

"So I guess this is it," Sid says.

Jonny offers his hand and Sid clasps it. "See you on ice," he says with a lopsided smile. They lean in and pat each other on the back. "For sure," Sid replies and they back away.

There's a crowd forming around them, murmuring in excitement. "Is that Crosby, Kane, and Toews?" Sid hears before he tunes them out to focus on Kaner who's looking a bit teary-eyed. The younger man's known to be emotional, but Sid understands being a bit of a sentimentalist himself.

He offers Kaner his hand with a smile. But instead Kaner ignores it and practically jumps on him forcing the breath out of him. He laughs and hugs him back as tightly. He hears multiple cameras go off near them. Now people are taking pictures and recording everything.

"Call-text anytime," Kaner says into his neck.

"Will do," he replies.

"I mean it," Kaner says firmly, putting a lot of emotion in it. "You're my boy."

Sid huffs out a small laugh, corner of his eyes crinkling. He has to admit he has grown quite fond of the younger man too.

"It's time to go," Jonny says softly and they break apart a bit unwillingly.

"See you later," Kaner says before Jonny tugs on his hand they begin to walk away.

"Good luck," Sid says. "And take care of him, Jonny."

"Always," Jonny shouts back with grin. Sid watches as Kaner sends Jonny a confused look.

"Take care of me? Can we talk about how you forgot about me and would have left me if it wasn't for the fact that I came with the ride?!" the blond man demands as they walk away. That makes Sid laugh. "You're still hung up on that?" He hears Jonny reply. "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry." Nobody stops them as they weave through the crowd quickly to get to security-check, not caring about their audience.

A few people come over to Sid though and ask for an autograph and picture, but Sid keeps his attention on Jonny and Kaner until they've disappeared from his sight before averting his attention to his fans.

_Yeah, he's going to miss them._

_Until next time..._

"Hey, bud," he says, greeting a young fan and signing the piece of paper handed to him. "What's your name?"

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I did the guys justice and that you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave kudos and/or a comment, it would be highly appreciated. Tell me what I did wrong or what I did right. Come talk to me on [Tumblr](http://kanershuffle.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
